)S 681 
.5 

U4 M3 
'Opy 1 




All just powers of government are derived from the consent ^ the gov- 
erned.— Declaration OF Independence. 

When we are molding in forgotten dust this sentence will live and bum, a 
menace to tyrants and a beacon light to the downtrodden and the oppressed. 



HON. WM. E." MASON, 

OF ILLINOIS, 




IN THS 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



Tuesday, January lO, 1899. 



WASHINGTON. 

^ S99 



i 






Government of Foreign People. 



No matter how easy may be the yoke of a foreign power — no matter how 
lightly it sits upon the shoulders, if it is not imposed by the voice of his own 
nation and of his own country, he will not, he can not, and he vieans not to 
be happy uuder its burden. — Webster. 

Tell me why we adopt one plan for Cuba and another for the Philippines 
I would write in living letters upon your hearts the word " Liberty." Not 
liberty, Mr. President, for your family as I prescribe it, not liberty for me 
or my children by your dictation, not Austrian liberty for Hungary, not 
Spanish liberty for Cuba, not English liberty for the United States, and not 
American liberty for the Philippines, but universal liberty —universal liberty 
for which our fathers died 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. WILLIAM B. MASON. 



The Senate having under consideration the following resolution: 
"Whereas all just powers of government are derived from the consent of 
the governed: Therefore, be it 

''Resolved by the Senate of the United States, That the Government of the 
United States of America will not attempt to govern the people of any other 
country in the world without the consent of the people themselves, or sub- 
ject them by force to our dominion against their will " — 

Mr. MASON said: 

Mr. President : It is easy to drift with the tide, but 
not always safe. It is pleasant to remain within the 
harbor when the storm is on without. But sometimes 
the storm within, the inner conscience, is more danger- 
ous to peace of mind than the storm without may be to 
human life. 

The simple resolution which I have introduced, and 
which I shall ask a vote upon before the final passage 
of any material legislation or treaty upon this subject, 
does not have necessarily anything to do with the treaty. 
I do not intend to speak upon that subject. 

The remarks of the learned Senator from Louisiana 
[Mr. Caffery] went to the suggestion that we have no 
constitutional power to acquire territory except under 
certain conditions, and the remarks of the learned Sen- 
ator from Connecticut [Mr. Platt] in answer showed 
that both gentlemen had been diligent in searching for 
conflicting authorities, and they have convinced the 

3633 3 



4 

Senate, I think, that the question still is and always will 
be unsettled. 

The proposition, however, followed by the Senator 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoar], and to which I wish to 
invite the attention of my distinguished friend from Ohio 
[Mr. Foraker] — and he knows with what sincerity I say 
''my friend " — is to the effect, first, that we have no right 
to acquire territory for an unconstitutional purpose ; sec- 
ond, that the Constitution must be interpreted in the 
light of the Declaration of Independence, and, therefore, 
third, that we have no right under the Constitution to 
acquire territory for the purpose of governing a people 
without their consent. . 

The resolution which I have offered does not involve 
a question of law. If I believe at any time in the future 
I can add to anything suggested by distinguished gen- 
tlemen, I shall have the temerity to enter that field of 
discussion. The resolution I offer involves a question 
of policy to be pursued by this Republic and requires 
no learned discussion of constitutional law. 

Understand me, Mr. President, I am not apologizing 
for the resolution nor for my speech. I regret its neces- 
sity; but that it is necessary that this treaty-making 
body of the United States should declare itself, one side 
or the other, upon the fundamental principles of our 
Government I could demonstrate to you in a moment's 
reading of the current literature of the day. Could I 
show its necessity better than reading one or two ex- 
tracts from leading journals describing the situation of 
our troops about the town of Iloilo? One of the great 
papers of this country says : 

In any case the insurgent flag at Iloilo will have to come down 
and give place to the Stars and Stripes. The fact that no Ameri- 
can troops were present at the surrender of the town has nothing 
to do with the case. The American forces have taken the whole 
Philippine group and concluded a treaty of peace with Spain by 
which the islands have all come under the American flag. * * * 
But peace and authority must be maintained; and if the Malay 
rebel factions can not realize this peaceably, they must be taught 
the fact in a way that they will understand. 

In another place: 

To raise any other flag than the Stars and Stripes over any town , 
in the Philippine Islands will henceforth be an act of rebellion 
against the established power of the United States and will have 
to be dealt with accordingly. 

From this morning's paper I read just one sentence to 
show that we are entering upon a state of war with the 
natives of the island, whose only crime is a desire to 

3633 



govern themselves and defend their homes. This is 
from an editorial in this morning's paper: 
That it may mean a long war to suppress the outlaws — 

That is what King George called Washington, you 
remember — 

and establish American authority over every foot of the Philip- 
pines can not deter the Government from the use of force at the 
earliest practicable moment. 

So much, Mr. President, for the situation of the hour, 
a situation which was not unanticipated by any man 
who could think fifteen minutes ahead of the present 
moment, a situation which was as inexorable and as sure 
of coming as the night follows day. 

Then, Mr. President, I ask only an indorsement of the 
Declaration of Independence. Surely American gentle- 
men will not sneer at my simplicity. Surely American 
gentlemen have not outgrown this document; and if 
they have, they will have to pardon me that I have not 
mentally, morally, and loyally kept pace with them in 
their wonderful growth. 

I appreciate and agree with President Lincoln, who 
said, "In the long run you can trust the people;" but 
I want the people to hear both sides of this question be- 
fore the verdict is rendered. 

Distinguished editors, writers, and statesmen tell us, 
and tell me almost constantly, that this doctrine of gov- 
erning those people without their consent is a part of 
the platform of the Republican party, and they would 
discipline me because of my opposition. Who dares 
speak for the Republican party before its convention 
meets? Who holds in his hand the voice of that great 
body of liberty-loving men? 

That party sprang from the womb of conscience; its 
first great fight was for human liberty; and if I may 
prophesy, as other gentlemen are indulged in prophecy, 
I prophesy that when the Republican party meets again 
in convention, if the delegates represent the conscience 
of its constituents, the old plank for human liberty will 
go in again, and the rafters of our convention hall will 
ring again and again, and yet again, when we declare, 
as we will, for independence in the Philippine Islands, 
as we did two years ago for independence for the peo- 
ple of Cuba. 

Mr. President, I may be charged with speaking for 
rebels. When did they take the oath of allegiance to our 
flag? Name the hour w^hen they have not claimed the 

3633 



6 

right of independence. I am speaking one word for the 
Philippine Islands, but I am speaking two words for my 
own country. A boy treading upon an ant, his father 
said, "Don't, my boy; that is cruel." A learned man 
said, "The ant has no nerve centers and can not suffer." 
"Ah," said the father, "I am speaking one word for the 
ant and two words for my boy. " A black man thanked 
a Senator here the other day. He said, "I thank you, 
Mr. Senator, for what you have said for my race. " The 
Senator said, "I was speaking one word for your race 
and two for mine. " The one thing that has dwarfed the 
white race more than any other is the stooping of a hun- 
dred years of the white man to hold the black man down. 
If I am to be branded as speaking for rebels, let me say 
at the outset I am speaking more for my country than 
for them. 

We have learned, and must learn again and again, the 
simple lesson of the law of compensation. That law is 
as unfailing as the law of gravitation. There is no 
vicarious atonement for a nation's crime. I care not 
what your religious faith may be, no nation has ever 
committed a crime against a weaker nation or against 
her own citizens that the law of compensation has not 
demanded settlement. For a hundred years in this 
country we piled up the w^ealth of unrequited toil of the 
slaves. We said, "This is the land of the free and 
the home of the brave," and sold women and children 
to the highest and best bidder for cash. No picture 
could be painted of the genius of our country in which 
the slave pen and whipping post did not rear their heads. 
We tore down the slave pen; the auction block came 
down with it; but there was not material enough to 
make headboards for the graves. 

It is with the law of liberty as it is with the law of 
love — the more you give the more you have. Mr. Presi- 
dent, if you, by your prejudice against me, bind me in 
a chain, your soul, as well as mine, feels the imprint of 
the bond. When Lincoln, as the instrument of God, 
struck the shackles from a million slaves, he struck the 
same shackles from your arms and from mine as well. 

You can not govern the Philippine Islands without- 
taxing them. You have not yet their consent to tax 
them. You propose again to tax without representa- 
tion. Look out for tea parties. Tliose semisocial func- 
tions are liable to occur, for Yankee Doodle and the 
Star-Spangled Banner have been heard in the Archi- 
pelago. 

3633 



Mr. President, in the light of the construction given 
to liberty by one of the distinguished Senators of this 
body, who has amended the Declaration of Independence 
m his speech here by inserting the words "some of the 
people," let me read, in the light of that definition, the 
definition of liberty as given by Webster. You remem- 
ber Kossuth, the great liberator and lover of libert3^ 
He came here in 1851, and you remember how he stirred 
the hearts of the American people here in Washington 
long before we had heard of this new interpretation that 
government was for "some of the people." When Kos- 
suth made his speech in Washington, Webster replied. 
Remember, Senators, I do not claim any monopoly on 
liberty, I do not claim for a moment that I love it any 
more than do you ; but I beg and I pray you to hear this 
man's definition of liberty — not liberty for me fixed by 
you. I read from Kossuth's Speeches, page 159. Web- 
ster said : 

There is, gentlemen, the great element of human happiness 
mixed up with other. We have our social affections; we have our 
family affections; but then we have this sentiment of our country, 
which imbues all our hearts and enters into all our other feelings; 
and this sentiment of country is an affection not only for the soil 
on which we were born; it not only appertains to our parents and 
sisters and brothers and friends, but our habits and institutions, 
and to the government of that country in all respects. 

We may talk of it as we please, but there is nothing that satis- 
fies the human mind in an enlightened age unless man is governed 
by his own country and the institutions of his own government. 

Hear this sentence, and remember this if you forget 
all I shall say to-da}^ 

No matter how easy the yoke, though our dearly be- 
loved friends who are going to govern the Philippines 
may use a silken cord, a golden chain^ Webster says : 

No matter how easy may be the yoke of a foreign power — 

And we are a foreign power so far as the Philippines 
are concerned; we can not speak their language; we 
can not read their newspapers — 

No matter how easy may be the yoke of a foreign power — no 
matter how lightly it sits upon the shoulders, if it is not imposed 
by the voice of his own nation and of his own country, he will not, 
he can not, and he means not to be happy under its burden. 

No matter how easy the yoke, he means not to be 
happy. But, Mr. President, we are told that they can 
not govern themselves. Where is the student of evolu- 
tion who talks like this? Where is the man who has 
read who does not know that all government is made to 
fit the people and does not rise either above or below the 
people themselves? Who does not know the difference 

3633 



8 

between ''canned liberty," as the distinguished Speaker 
of the House calls it, and the genuine liberty which we 
enjoy? 

No, no; they can not govern themselves. I was told 
so the other day by one of my beloved constituents, who 
never governs himself fifteen minutes at a time; but he 
was willing to take an assignment under the present Ad- 
ministration to govern all the Philippines at a fair salary. 

Can not govern themselves! Every man who ever 
owned a slave always said: "Why, you poor, down- 
trodden slave, I own you for your own good, just to help 
you; I eat my bread in the sweat of your face just to 
keep you safe and sound from the ways of danger; and 
in order that I may continue to exercise this Christian 
duty do not let me catch you with a spelling book in 
your hand." 

Can not govern themselves ! And we are to say that 
to-day to the poor, God-forsaken, downtrodden people 
.of the Philippine Islands; and while we whisper the 
words of consolation into their ears that we are to give 
them liberty and life, we wink the other eye to the 
merchants of the country, and say: *' We will extend 
commerce and sell more calico." [Laughter.] My dis- 
tinguished friend suggested this morning that we ought 
to rake those islands with our guns and compel their 
people to wear shirts — not that they need the shirts, but 
to increase the demand for calico. 

We are to go to those people and say to them, not- 
withstanding Dewey said they are competent to govern 
themselves — he had handled them without guns; he 
had had no trouble with them ; he had an understand- 
ing — we are to say to the people of the Philippine 
Islands, "You poor, God-forsaken creatures, this thing 
of sovereignty is a great thing; we bought yours some- 
where across the water." 

Mr. President, did you ever see the Passion Play? 
Were you reminded when you saw^ the picture of gen- 
tlemen in foreign lands parting and dividing the homes 
of the Filipinos without consulting them and without 
notice to the people who live there — were you reminded 
of the picture in the Passion Play where the garments of 
the Master were parted by the throw of the dice? 

But we are to exercise the right of taxation without 
representation. We are to govern the ad valorem and 
the specific duties. Ah, my friends, look out; for once 
the spirit of imperialism governs the poor and w^eak 

8633 



9 

10,000 miles away, look out that that spirit does not 
touch 3^ou nearer home. 

When Kossuth wrote the declaration of Hungarian 
independence he had in mind our own Declaration of In- 
dependence. So he said here in Washington. For over 
one hundred years everj^ lover of liberty has pointed to 
this sentence within this resolution: "All just powers of 
government are derived from the consent of the gov- 
erned." 

This sentence, Mr. President, has been a pillar of fire 
by night and a cloud by day to the downtrodden and op- 
pressed all over the world. In the light of this sentence 
crowns have fallen to the dust and men have stood anew 
in their own manhood. In the light of this sentence 
Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America, laid in 
blood and carnage the foundation stones of the South 
American republics. In the light of this sentence 
Kosciusko led his Spartan band against the hosts of Rus- 
sian and Austrian oppressors of his native Poland. 

This burning sentence attracted the attention of La- 
faj^ette, across the water, and his ships set sail for our 
relief. In the light of this sentence Garibaldi struck 
down Bourbon tyranny and carved his name not only 
in the hearts of lovers of liberty in Italy, but all over 
the world. No, Mr. President, we will not amend that 
sentence now. We will not insert the word "some" 
just yet. It has passed beyond the power of this coun- 
try to amend the Declaration of Independence, and 
when the distinguished Senator from Connecticut and I, 
and all the rest of us, are moldering in forgotten dust, 
that sentence will continue to live and to burn, a menace 
to tyrants and a beacon light to the downtrodden and 
the oppressed. 

You ask for expansion. See how we have expanded 
in the time since this sentence was written. Not only 
have republics started up in place of monarchies, but 
monarchies have themselves gradually broadened into 
constitutional governments, getting nearer and nearer 
to the voice of the people. Our own was the first great 
republic, and in the better and broader sense our flag 
floats from the dome of every republic. From Brazil to 
Nicaragua and Venezuela the brave little republican 
flag is floating. It may not be striped or starred like 
our own, but it is born of the spirit of our spirit, and it 
breathes defiance to the monarchies of the world, because 
our flag is in our sky and because the Monroe doctrine 
is written forever in the hearts of the people. 

3633 



10 

We are told by others that we must govern the Phil- 
ippine Islands or abandon them and turn them back to 
Spain. Are we going to do that with Cuba? Is that our 
promise to the people of Cuba, that we must either take 
that island or give it to some other tyrant than Spain? 
Oh, no. We have said to Cuba, "Go along, my little 
friend ; there is your flag and there is your new repub- 
lic; you are a friend of the great Republic and not its 
slave. We have helped to set your flag in the sky. Go 
on, my brave young republic, and while Yankee Doodle 
is whistled on this continent no foreign power shall ever 
invade your soil." Have we got to govern or abandon 
Cuba? Is that an honest excuse for grabbing something 
in violation of the common, honest law of nations? 

Let me tell you what our good friend Fox said in the 
English Parliament, that some of you expansionists read 
when you were boys and have long since forgotten. I 
quote his exact language, and I quote the volume of 
Fox's Speeches, at page 61 : 

The noble lord who moved the amendment said that we were 
in the dilemma of conquering or abandoning America. What 
have been the advantages of America to this Kingdom? Extent 
of trade, increase of commercial advantages, and a numerous 
people growing up in the same ideas and sentiments as ourselves. 
Now, sir, would those advantages accrue to us if America was 
conquered? Not one of them. 

Let me read just a little further from what Fox said 
in answer to this proposition, made so far by all the 
people who are in favor of taking the Philippine Islands, 
whether the people of those islands want us to do so or 
not. Fox, following on in the same speech on the same 
day, in reply to the Crown, said : 

Such a possession of America must be secured by a standing 
army — 

Is not that true here? — 
and that, let me observe, must be a very considerable army. 

Is not that true here? Aguinaldo has 50,000 men and 
one climate. Mr. Fox, continuing, said: 

Consider, sir, that that army must be cut off from the inter- 
course of social liberty here, and accustomed in every instance to 
bow down and break the spirits of men, to trample on the rights 
and live on the spoils cruelly wrung from the sweat and labor of 
their fellow-subjects. Such an army employed for such purposes, 
and paid by such means, for supporting such principles, would be 
a very proper instrument to effect points of a greater, or at least 
more favorite, importance nearer home; points, perhaps, very un- 
favorable to the liberties of this country. 

Not one expansionist, not one who advocates the tak- 

3633 



11 

kig of these islands against the consent of the people, 
but what will tell you in the same breath, "Yes, it is 
going to be a great tax upon the people of the United 
States, but we will let the Filipinos pay that tax, " They 
are to pay for our standing army. They are to pay the 
price of their own chains. 

Mr. President, suppose England had accepted that ad- 
vice of Fox, the great lover of liberty? They said he 
was America's friend. Ah, but in the light of history 
he was a better friend to England. If England had ac- 
cepted that advice and made us their friend, the hun- 
dred years last passed would have shown a diiferent 
state of affairs between England and the United States 
of America. 

The Filipino, or resident of the Philippine Islands, is 
begging to treat with us. He knocks at our door to be 
heard. He loves his home as you love yours, sir, and 
as I love mine. He has breathed the inspiration of our 
history. He asks only what our fathers fought for — the 
right to govern himself. There is no treaty of commer- 
cial value to the United States which could be suggested 
that he is not ready and willing to give us. Then it is 
not the expansion of commerce you want, but it is the 
expansion of the gewgaws and the tinsels of royalty. 

Those of us who pointed out in the early summer this 
present situation — I beg gentlemen to understand I do 
not want to appear in the light of "I told you so" — but 
those of us in the early summer who told you what would 
lie in wait for us if we sought to govern those people with- 
out their consent knew that it meant war for expansion, 
war for conquest, war in the denial of our very proposi- 
tion made in this Chamber when we declared war for the 
liberation of Cuba. 

Let me give notice to you gentlemen who expect to be in 
politics that if this war goes on, and if we open the guns, 
as we threaten to do within ten daj^s, upon the women and 
children in the island of Iloilo, the father in New England 
will begin to plead for the father in Manila, the mother in 
Illinois will begin to praj^ for the mother in the islands of 
the sea, and the fathers will vote as the mothers pray. 
God Almighty help the party that seeks to give civiliza- 
tion and Christian liberty hypodermically with 13-inc2i 
guns. 

Mr. TILLMAN. Will the Senator allow me to ask him 
a question? 

Mr. MASON. Yes, sir. 

3ti33 



12 

Mr. TILLMAIST. You have stated that we are likely 
to have war in ten days. 

Mr. MASON. No; I did not state that. I said within 
ten days we have served notice that before we turned 
our guns upon them we would give them notice to take 
their women and children out — Weyler. 

Mr. TILLMAN. I wish to ask the Senator by what 
authority of law the President will begin a war with the 
Filipinos until the treaty is ratified and the cession is 
completed. Does not the protocol under which the 
armistice was entered into continue as the only legal 
status? 

Mr. MASON. I so understand it. 

Mr. TILLMAN. Can, then, the President order a sin- 
gle gun fired unless this Congress shall pass a resolution 
declaring war against the Filipinos — I mean legally? 

Mr. MASON. No; he can not. 

Have we got to fight and plead for those people in the 
Philippine Islands as you, Mr. President [Mr. Chandler 
in the chair], did, and as others did for the Cubans? 
Are we to hear Aguinaldo called a cutthroat, a robber, 
as we did the poor Garcia within this very Chamber, 
because he fought for liberty and for his own country? 

Oh, but they say Aguinaldo is a self-appointed chief. 
That is a way of their politics there. Look about the 
Senate, Mr. President, and who of us is here except orig- 
inally upon his own invitation? 

Why, Mr. President, cannot we now make those people 
our friends, as Fox pleaded to make America England's 
friend a hundred years ago? Why not give them what 
they ask? Why should we stingily withhold the jewel 
of independence? Why should we not finish this war as 
we began it — for humanity's sake? Why not with a free 
and open hand give them what we have promised to give 
to Cuba, and say, '*Go and obey the divine injunction, 
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 
go and learn by experience, as we did. Profit by your 
mistakes, as we have done. Yes, we have saved your 
life, Filipino, and in the future we will protect it against 
all comers from within or without while our fiag floats. " 
Then we shall have kept our promise, and only then. 

Mr. CAFFERY. May I ask the Senator a question? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chandler in the 
chair) . Does the Senator from Illinois yield to the Sena- 
tor from Louisiana? 

Mr. MASON. Yes, sir. 

3633 



13 

Mr. CAFFERY. I desire to know whetlier at the time 
the Spanish fleet was sunk in the harbor of Manila the 
Spaniards held any more foothold in the Philippine 
Islands than they did in the island of Cuba, and whether 
the same declaration we made in regard to the independ- 
ence of Cuba, based largely upon the occupation of that 
island hy the insurgents — the Spaniards only holding 
the ground that their armies stood upon — does not ap- 
ply with equal force to the Philippine Islands? 

Mr. MASON. Absolutely; yes. The insurgents held 
more territory than the Spaniards. We ourselves dis- 
credited the sovereign title of Spain. We ourselves 
have thrown a taint upon their possessions. We our- 
selves, in the face of the world, have thrown a taint 
upon all sovereignty claimed by Spain that was held by 
force. Yes, the insurgents held more than the Span- 
iards held within their grasp, but the Spaniards were 
better traders. They knew how to buy a-nd sell sover- 
eignty better than the Filipinos, who, thank God, have 
not learned it, and we ought never to begin to teach 
them. 

I am for the independence of the people of the Philip- 
pine Islands, as I am for independence of the people 
of Cuba. I am bound by a solemn promise made in this 
Chamber. Senators may higgle and say it is not nomi- 
nated in the bond; but it is an implied promise, more 
sacred to an honorable gentleman than though it were 
written in blood. 

Mr. President, let us say to them, as we have said to 
Cuba, "Go on your way; learn by evolution" — for that 
is the only way. ' ' The use of power develops power. 
You can not learn to swim outside of water. You may 
take lessons in swimming each summer, my dear Filip- 
inos; we will send you 4,000 teachers of swimming; but 
you had better not get in out of your depth until j^ou 
have taken a trial yourselves." Give them the inde- 
pendence they plead for, and we shall have kept our 
promise with the people of the world. 

Anything else will be the breaking of a national 
promise and a personal disgrace to 70,000,000 people. 
Then we can say to the world, " See, there is Bedloe's 
Island; the Goddess of Liberty has not changed the 
liberty cap for a crown; the goddess has turned on her 
pedestal and with her mightj^ searchlight sweeps the 
continent to Cuba; aye, and across the water 10,000 
miles away the seed sown at Concord has taken root; 

3633 



14 

there is a new flag in the sky — not the flag of the West- 
ern giant, with 70,000,000 people back of it, seeking to 
extend territory and accomplish sovereignty, but the 
brave little republican flag which flaunts its saucy colors 
in the very portals of the Orient. 

But, Mr. President, to abandon them as Fox proposed 
to abandon America means self-government. It is time 
enough for us to say they can not govern themselves 
when we have given them a trial. 

Oh, the glory of responsibility ! You have seen com- 
mon jackknife lawyers make good judges because they 
were elected to the bench. They found responsibility, 
and it made them men. Soldiers fight better in uniform, 
for they fear to disgrace themselves by retreat. They 
disgrace the country whose colors they wear. Citizens 
grow in responsibility when panoplied with citizenship, 
and the reverse is true when they are denied that sacred 
offering. To abandon the Philippines means what? It 
means what Fox meant for the United States — the right 
to govern themselves. 

That we have assisted the Filipinos is undoubtedly 
true. That they assisted us is also true. We are told 
that Aguinaldo could not have got back there but for 
Dewey. Then Dewey put him back. Then under all 
the laws of common honesty he is an ally. Under all 
the laws of nations he is our ally. Csesar, with all his 
cruelty, aye, Nero, never accepted the assistance of an 
ally and whipped his enemy and then turned his guns 
upon the men who helped him. 

I say respectfully that there is no more right or neces- 
sity of our governing the Philippine Islands than there 
is of governing Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, or any 
other South American state without the consent of its 
people. Certainly we have no more right to govern them 
than we have to govern Cuba. Our Government is com- 
mitted to the withdrawal of our troops from Cuba as 
soon as peace is restored and a government established. 

Will some one tell me, Mr. President, will some of the 
gentlemen who are to follow upon the otlier side of the 
case, who are to belittle the dangers of war with an inno- 
cent people, tell me why it is that we should apply a 
different rule to the Philippines from that we do to Cuba? 
Will my distinguished friend to-morrow tell this Cham- 
ber? I can not believe that he will take the position; 
but if he does, will he give the rule in ethics and good 
morals that leads us to take a different stand toward the 

3633 



15 

people of the Philippines, who are more enlightened and 
better educated, have more newspapers and better 
schools, from that we take toward Cuba? 

Tell me why we should adopt one plan for Cuba and 
another for the Philippines. Do you say, with the ex- 
plosionists — I mean the expansionists, "We i^romised 
we would not steal Cuba, but we did not promise not to 
steal the Philippines?" Do you say, with Shjdock, "Is 
it so nominated in the bond?" You remember Jacques in 
the Two Orphans was charged with stealing a coat. He 
said, ' ' You lie ; it was a cloak. " Will you tell me, please, 
how grand larcenj?- and criminal aggression in Cuba be- 
come high Christian civilization in the Philipi)ines? Is 
there some place in the Pacific Ocean where we change 
the code of ethics and good morals as we change the cal- 
endar and the ship's clock in crossing? 

Mr. President, we can not teach them to govern them- 
selves. There is only one road to self-government. 
That is through the gate of responsibility, along the 
rough and rugged road of experience. You can not 
teach liberty and self-government with a Mauser gun. 
Spain has tried it for centuries; at least, with guns sim- 
ilar if not of the same pattern. For centuries she has 
been for expansion, more land, more property, more 
poor people she could ride over with some cheap politi- 
cian with a crown on his head. Are we going to keep 
the crown room there that Spain occupied? Is the 
throne room to be kept intact for Tammany Hall or the 
Republican party when we send our envoys there? 

Spain is an expansionist and has been for centuries. 
And say, my friends, have you forgotten the first rule 
proved by all history, without exception, that every 
square inch of territory taken by force has to be held by 
force? Go to your children who are in the first year of 
the high school, and they will tell you the rule, that in 
all history every square foot of ground taken by force 
from an alien nation has to be kept by force. There is 
Alsace-Lorraine, between Germany and France. A 
standing army is kept there on both sides, and there 
is a continuing threat of war. Are we to continue to 
imitate Spain? She has believed in the expansion of 
territory, expansion of commerce by force, without the 
consent of the governed, and her ships are lying at the 
bottom of the sea. Her men are rotting in the ocean 
and upon the land all over the world. Her flag has 
been dishonored, disgraced, defeated, and sent back to 

3633 



16 

her peninsula, and the golden crown of imperialism that 
she has sought against the will of the people has turned 
to ashes in her palsied hands. 

But distinguished gentlemen who claim a monopoly of 
patriotism, who do not seem to observe the difference 
between expansion and explosion, say that we who be- 
lieve in getting the consent of the governed before we 
govern them want to give back the Philippines to Spain. 
Everyone who makes the statement knows that is not 
what we want. May I repeat the old story of Lincoln? 
Driving in his carriage one day, he alighted to turn a 
tumblebug to his legs. Replying to the Cabinet minister 
within the carriage, he said: "I merely wanted to give 
him a show with all the other bugs of his class." He 
did not want to annex the bug or to tell him how to run 
his business. He did not seek to tax him or to tell him 
that he did not know how to govern his bugship. He set 
him along the highroad, along the line of the survival of 
the fittest. 

Do you remember when Mexico was invaded by the 
French and Uncle Sam said, "Go; there is the Monroe 
doctrine; Mexico is covered by the shadow of its wing," 
and the French soldiers left, and the brave little Re- 
public of Mexico is slowly but surely climbing the ladder 
to a better education, a better civilization. Ah, Mr. 
President, that is the expansion I believe in. That is 
the imperialism the fathers taught. 

Venezuela, within three years, was assaulted by Eng- 
land — sought to be despoiled of her port of entry. Gro- 
ver Cleveland was President of the United States, and 
he said to the greatest naval power of the world, ' ' Stop !" 
You know the result. Venezuela, struggling along, im- 
proving in civil and religious liberty, is climbing higher 
and higher the scale of civilization. We did not want 
to annex her when we spoke for her. We did not seek 
to tax and govern her, but we set her on the highroad of 
imperialism within herself, and that is the imperialism 
the fathers taught, and that is the expansion I plead for. 

Mr. President, I wonder if my colleagues have for- 
gotten the scenes of twelve months ago within this Cham- 
ber, when the distinguished Senator who now occupies 
the chair [Mr. Chandler] had the floor and was for 
liberty and Cuba? Do you remember when some of our 
distinguished colleagues read to us the charge by the 
Germans that we were seeking territory, that Uncle Sam 
was a sly dog, and that we were playing the part of the 

3633 



17 

good Samaritan and had a compass under our wings to 
measure territory? Was there not a distinguished Sen- 
ator — from New Hampshire, I think — who answered the 
slander by quoting the Battle Hymn of the Republic? 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me: 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. 

Shall we change the last line and say : 
Let us die to make men slaves. 

Have you forgotten how we called upon the people to 
look this way, and we said, "Hear, O ye hills; turn, all 
ye people of the world; tarn ye, O eyes, and see Amer- 
ica. She worshipeth at the shrine of Him who was born 
in the manger. We unlimber our guns for humanity's 
sake. We clear our decks for the liberty of others." 
Are we, by turning our guns upon the natives, to say by 
our conduct, "Look not this way; turn in shame upon 
us; the money changers are in the temple of liberty; 
the jingle of gold and silver is heard within her walls ; 
and we are now about to barter and dicker, to buy and 
sell the right to govern men and women and children 
without their consent." 

But, Mr. President, we are told, and we were told only 
yesterday by the distinguished Senator from Connecti- 
cut [Mr. Platt] — if you will read his closing speech, in 
which he replied to the distinguished Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts [Mr. Hoar], to whom I now take occasion to 
pay my tribute of honor and respect, such as I bear to- 
ward few men in this life — "we are going to give them 
liberty, but we want them to have our kind of liberty. 
You must be happy, my dear Filipino, but happy in 
the way I tell you to be happy." 

I am going to read you the exact words of King George. 
You liberty -loving expansionists, who are going to give 
them civilization with guns, who are going to extend 
commerce at the cost of the lives of the boys of this 
country, when you say you are going to give them liberty, 
forget the difference between your liberty and theirs. 
Let me read you the exact words of King George, so that 
you may be sure to be on his side when next you spout 
for liberty for the Philippines. 

Here is the language of his kingship George IH. I am 
going to read you his exact words. He was "desirous 
of restoring to them the blessings of law and liberty." 
Oh, why was not Pecksniff born at that time to wear a 
crown? King George said exactly as you expansionists 

3633—3 



18 

talk to-day, exactly as the Senator from Connecticut said 
yesterday — he was going to give them the liberty of his 
kind; Connecticut liberty for the Philippine Islands 
[laughter] ; the canned liberty that Mr. Speaker Reed 
speaks of; the misfit liberty that has never "gone" 
among the nations of the world. 

Let me read you what King George said. This is the 
father they speak of, I will say to the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts, when they refer him to the fathers. They 
did refer to the father — George III. Let me read you 
his exact words, and when next you strut before your 
constituents and say, " We are the superior race; we are 
the Anglo-Saxons; we have larger cloaks and can say 
longer prayers; we stand higher than upon the house 
tops; we thank God we are not as other men," they can 
say, with King George, " We are going to give those 
poor devils the kind of liberty we want them to take, 
and if they do not take our liberty we will shoot them to 
death." I am going to read you King George's liberty. 
You can insert it in three lines of the speech of the dis- 
tinguished Senator yesterday, and you could not tell 
whether it was the Senator from Connecticut or King 
George who made it: 

I am desirous of restoring to them the blessings of law and lih- 
erty equally enjoyed by every British subject— 

You want to strike out the word "British " and insert 
"American" in the gentleman's speech yesterday; that 
is all — 

which they have fatally and desperately exchanged for the calam- 
ities of war and the arbitrary tyranny of their chiefs. 

"Chiefs," he said. The King said "chiefs." The 
Senator said "chiefs," I think. The King referred to 
Washington; the Senator to Aguinaldo. Was there not 
an answer on the same day from the lover of liberty, 
Fox — not because he loved us, but because he loved lib- 
erty? In answer to the King he said on the same day, 
rising in his place : 

But, sir, how is this blessed system of liberty to be established? 
By the bayonets of disciplined Hessians? 

I lack originality. May I use the same language? 
How is the liberty to be established? You have answered 
by your proclamation. You say, peacefully if you can, 
but powder if you must. I say that the boys in blue or 
gray, or whatever color they fight in, enlisted to make 
men free. They enlisted to fight the tyrant Spain. 
Tljey did not enlist to make men slaves. They did not 

3633 



19 

enlist to fight the Filipinos, and the fairest tiling you 
can do for the Anierican youth before you set him to 
shooting the women and children of the island is to give 
him a chance to come home. 

They are not Hessians. They are not hired as butch- 
ers. They heard the lofty talk of patriotism. We were 
all willing to die to make men free. You have no right, 
after having accomplished the liberty of Cuba, to send 
your officers 10,000 miles away to subjugate, to kill, and 
to destroy the innocent natives, whose only offense is the 
love of wife, the love of children, and the love of home. 

I ask now for some one who shall follow me to answer, 
did Aguinaldo go back there under the protection of our 
flag? If so, is he not an ally? If he is an ally, have we 
a right to settle terms of w^ar and peace without consult- 
ing him and his people? Ah, but it was officially re- 
ported that our colonel in command said to them, " Give 
up Iloilo," and they said, "No;" and it is officially re- 
ported that our commander said, "Before we burn your 
town we will give you twenty-four hours to take your 
women and children out under the stars;" I say it is 
reported officiallj' that this gentleman in charge — I have 
forgotten the name of the colonel in charge — said that 
before he bombarded the town — it has not been denied; 
it has been reported frequently — he would give them 
tw^enty-four hours. 

Mr. GALLINGER. What does the Senator mean by 
" officially reported?" 

Mr. MASON. I suppose the w^ord "officially" is not 
correct. It has not been denied, however. 

Mr. GALLINGER. Currently reported. 

Mr. MASON. It has been reported time after time. 
It is reported every morning. It is reported this morn- 
ing. Read this morning's report. 

Mr. TELLER. General Miller. 

Mr. MASON. I think that is his name. He is going 
to give them twenty-four hours before opening his guns. 
But the friends say, "Oh, that is only a threat." 

Mr. HOAR. I should like to ask the Senator from 
Illinois a question . Does not the same report, uncontra- 
dicted anj^where, say that at the time that notice was 
given the people of Iloilo had established orderly civil 
government, with courts, police officers, and means for 
the collection of customs and revenues in the islands? 

Mr. MASON. Certainly. 

Mr. HOAR. That is what they are going to over- 
throw. 

3633 



20 

Mr. MASOlSr. We have never put our foot upon that 
island. We were not even there when the people drove 
the Spaniards out. The flag has never been upon the 
island, either by conquest or in any other way. The 
people are governing themselves, and we are told that 
we are to give them twenty-four hours — that is not so 
long as Weyler gave them, in some instances — for men, 
women, and children to move out of their homes — homes 
as sacred as mine is to me or yours is to you. That is 
to be our action against people who have never offended 
us; against people who have been our allies in this 
struggle. At the point of a gun we are to couquer our 
allies, having defeated the main opponent of the fight. 
Shade of the immortal Washington, defend us! Tears 
of the martyred Lincoln plead for this country at the 
throne of eternal justice! 

Mr. GALLIN GER. If the Senator will permit me, he 
says that it is officially, or, modifying that statement, 
perhaps, currently reported that General Miller has made 
this threat against those people. This is a very serious 
matter; this discussion, I think, is a very serious matter. 
I am sorry it has taken place just now. I should like 
to ask the Senator if he has verified that statement either 
from the Commander in Chief, the President of the 
United States, or the Secretary of War, and whether 
General Miller is acting under any instructions from 
the President of the United States or the Secretary of 
War to open fire on these people? 

Mr. MASON. I will state to the Senator that I did 
make inquiries, but I am not at liberty to state the result. 
This I do know, that it is currently reported in the As- 
sociated Press 

Mr. HOAR. There has been no denial. 

Mr. MASON. And there has been no denial of it for 
the past week. It has appeared in the papers. This 
morning the jjaper says we are going to use honeyed 
words, if we can, to get the island, and if not, then X30w- 
der. It has come in that form day after day for the past 
ten days. I make my statement based now upon the 
reports given by the Associated Press, but I will say to 
the' Senator that I have information that I know it has 
been the intention to proceed further than the use of 
mere kindly, honeyed words. This is admitted, that 
at least for a week it has been charged and not denied 
that they threatened them that unless they gave up pos- 
session we would bombard their town And I say that 

3633 



21 

for a nation of 70,000,000 people to stand upon the shore 
of a little striiggilng community and threaten them is 
an example of cowardice almost unparalleled in the his- 
tory of the world. 

Mr. GALLINGER. Mr. President, I of course accept 
the Senator's statement that he has information. I am 
sorry he is not at liberty to give that information to tlie 
Senate. But I do not accept his statement, or the state- 
ment of the Senator from Massachusetts just interjected, 
tliat because this has not been denied it is true. I know 
of no reason why the President of the United States or 
the Secretary of War should rush into print to deny 
every report circulated by the Associated Press, But 
of course, if the Senator has other information that is 
accurate and official, I am bound to accept it. I wish he 
might give it to the Senate and to the country. 

Mr. WHITE. If the Senator from Illinois will permit 
me, it is well known to all of us that when statements 
have been made in the leading newspapers of the coun- 
try regarding a policy or declaration of administration 
which is not true and might lead to a public misconcep- 
tion, there has been a denial. This statement has been 
published all over the United States, and is met by that 
silence which is alike ominous and convincing. 

Mr. GALLINGER. To the Senator from California. 

Mr. WHITE. And I trust to all sensible people. 

Mr. GALLINGER. Not to me, at all. 

Mr. MASON. But, Mr. President, we are told by cer- 
tain distinguished gentlemen who are interested in com- 
merce, and who talk one story in the countingroom and 
another one in the church, that we must civilize these 
people. "Thank God, we are not as other men. We 
must bring them up to our standard in civilization." I 
suppose that means clothes, religion, churches, schools, 
and the use of all the peculiar kiuds of drinks that we 
indulge in. Food, raiment, and the color of the neck- 
tie must be involved. 

HoAV are we going to civilize them, Mr. President? 
Shall we show them how to run municipalities with 
boodle aldermen? I see that the great chief of that 
ethical society known as Tammany Hall has taken sides 
on this question. "Take the islands," says the Tam- 
many chief. "Civilize them." Shall we send him over 
there to teach the untutored Filipino cleanliness and 
municipal reform? Shall we teach them to worship 
mouey and the man who has it, regardless of how he 

8C33 



22 

got it? Shall we send special instructors to teach them 
how to kill postmasters, their wives and children, if 
their complexion does not suit the populace? Shall we 
have illustrated pictures showing the works of the mob 
in Illinois, North Carolina, and South Carolina? 

Why, Mr. President, since the signing of the protocol 
we have murdered more men in Illinois by the mob than 
they have in the Philippine Islands. Shall we take that 
branch of our civilization and force it upon them with a 
13-inch gun? Shall we teach them, as they do in North 
and South Carolina, how the mobs can run the towns 
and kill the people? Shall we teach them how to organ- 
ize trusts, so that when one gentleman is out on his 
yacht and is troubled with liver complaint or a trifle 
seasick he can float into Manila Bay and raise the price 
of sugar on 70,000,000 people? 

Shall we teach them how to organize their legislature 
as we have this body, so that the minoritj^ can boss and 
not the majority? Shall we teach them the speech of 
the distinguished Senator from Connecticut, that all 
just powers of government are derived from the consent 
of "some" of the governed? Shall we send them Lin- 
coln's Gettysburg speech amended in that way — a gov- 
ernment of some of the jjeople, by a part of the people, 
for a few of the people? 

Gentlemen may say I belittle my own institutions. I 
do not. I should like to call attention to a few of the 
beams in the eye of the Americano that he may not 
stretch and break his neck reaching 10,000 miles away 
to find the mote in the eye of the Filipino. 

No; I am not afraid of the result so far as my country 
is concerned. The distinguished Senator who sounded 
a keynote the like of which has not been heard in half 
a century in this Hall may have just grounds for appre- 
hension, but I come from a younger communitj^ We 
have stood many things, as our country has. We went 
through the Know-Nothing craze, the Greenback fever, 
the free-silver tempest, and we have come up out of it 
all brave and strong. Why? 

Why, Mr. President? Because our Government was 
builded right. The just powers of the Government have 
been derived from the consent of the people. It is 
builded on a rock that can not wash away. It has within 
itself the wellspring of eternal youth. 

And why, Mr. President, in the name of all that is 
generous, should we refuse the Filipino the privilege of 

8633 



iJ3 

lighting his feeble taper at the light and heat of our 
flaming torch? 

Mr. President, why is it that to-day in the happy land 
of Cuba they are preparing to celebrate their Fourth of 
Jul}^? Have you not read of the processions, the whites 
and the blacks, the men and the women and the chil- 
dren, the starving reconcentrados, marching and shout- 
ing, singing their La Marseillaise, singing their Wacht 
am Rhein, singing their Star Spangled Banner? Why? 
Because we promised them independence, and by impli- 
cation we promised the same thing to the Philixjpine 
Islands. 

Why is it not so to-day in the Philippine Islands? 
Why are they gathering their men and their guns 
around them? Are they not saying to us, "This war 
means something more than a change of masters?" 
Aye, Mr. President, when some gentleman who loves 
liberty takes tliis floor I beg him to tell me the reason 
for treating them differently from what we propose to 
treat the people in the island of Cuba. 

What is the reason? Are human homes less sacred 
in the Philippines? Are human hopes and human aspi- 
rations any less sacred there? Does the father love his 
family less? Does not the m other sing her lullaby as well 
there? Is there some secret reason whereby we intend 
to take the sovereignty of the people and gather from 
them the tribute we should have gathered from the 
shekels of Spain? 

Tell me, I say, when you have the floor, you who are 
going to follow peacefully and pleasantly if you can, but 
with gun and powder if you must, you who stand upon 
the platform to take the Philippine Islands regardless 
of the wish of the people, where in your declaration of 
principle have yoa the right to treat them differently 
from the people of Cuba. 

Oh, but gentlemen say there is something in it. There 
is the sale of rum and tobacco and calico. If 3'ou want 
the land, there is Canada ; that is nearer. Take Canada. 
The}^ talk our language. But when I say that to my 
expansionist friend, he says, "That is different." Oh, 
yes ; it is different, and I will tell you the difference. It is 
the difference between the fleet of a Victoria and the fleet 
of Aguinaldo. That is all the difference. There is no 
difference in principle, for if you have a right to take the 
Philippines and govern them and tax them without their 
consent, you have the right to take Canada. 

3633 



24 

I hope, Mr. President, the distinguished gentlemen 
who are to speak in favor of taking these islands by force 
will pardon my questions. I want them, before they sit 
down and after they have told the great advantage, to 
answer. Why not take something nearer home if it is a 
mere matter of advantage? Why not put the skull and 
crossbones of piracy upon the flag at once and take out of 
the Declaration of Independence that all just powers of 
the government are derived from the consent of the 
governed? 

Mr. President, we have had a very serious war, glori- 
ous in its inception, for liberty. We have set the high- 
water mark in patriotism. When Patrick Henry said, 
*'Give me liberty or give me death," the world said, 
"That is the high-watermark of liberty." But here, 
at the close of the century, we have lifted the mark. 
When the President called for 100,000 men, 625,000 be- 
tween sun and sun answered the call and said not " Give 
me liberty or give me death," but " Give liberty to the 
continent or give me death ; I will put my life in the 
balance to clean the continent where my flag floats." 

I have seen men dying in hospitals without a murmur. 
They said to me, " I am going to die; it is all right, old 
man." I have stood by the open graves. I have seen 
the mother's tears dry and her face light up with hope — 
aye, with pride — when it was said to her that he died in 
a noble cause; that he died like the Master, for others. 
I have seen the tears dry and the face light with pride 
because her son was there, having died in the cause as 
sacred as the Nazarene's. 

But, Mr. President, when your ships come home laden 
from Manila with the putrid remains of our boys, and 
you take the cofiin to the mother's door, you never will 
dry her tears, you never will soothe her heart, by telling 
her that you have extended your commerce at the cost 
of her dead boj^ 

Mr. President, who wants to govern the Philippines, 
let me ask in conclusion? Where is the ambitious Sena- 
tor who wants to make laws at this desk to govern peo- 
ple 10,000 miles away? Who is the kind-hearted states- 
man? You can not speak their language. You do not , 
know their schools. You can not read their newspapers. 
You do not know their religion. Why, I never even saw 
one of their newspapers. I am told there is a bogy man 
here who represents Aguinaldo, but I have never even 
seen him. I have an idea that their homes are sacred 

3633 



I 
I 



25 

to them and that their government, like the fountain 
head, is what the people will make it; that it can never 
be better until they make it better, and that government 
can not be learned by inheritance any more than you 
can inherit a trade. 

I have an idea that their homes are sacred, that their 
children are beloved, that they love their soil, and that 
they have their songs; that the father has his prayer, 
that they have a hearthstone of some kind, and that 
the mother has a lullaby for her babe. Who wants to 
govern them here? In the name of God, who wants to 
do it? Who craves the power to make laws for men 
10,000 miles away whom you never saw? Who seeks to 
go there as the governor? If Democracy succeeds, tell 
me the name of the man in this Chamber who wants to 
go, covered with the tinsels, the gewgaws, and flubdubs 
of sovereignty that comes from royalty, and have the 
natives receive you and keep the flies off of your sacred 
person while you listen to the interpreter. What man 
ever breathed American air in Illinois or Wisconsin 
who would stoop to this? 

Ah, Mr. President, the fever has run high, the tem- 
perature has been almost beyond our power to with- 
stand. The war made heroes of all of us — some of us in 
our minds, some of us on the field. In the contempla- 
tion of the heroic work of Dewey and the Army and Navy 
we have grown so heroic that we know not where to stop; 
and in love of power we have forgotten the high purpose 
and the lofty plan upon which the declaration of war 
was founded. 

If in my effort to-day I can get one American to think 
a little more of the rights of man, if I can add one com- 
fort or one hope to the poorest, blackest, meanest, and 
lowest of God's creatures in the Philippine Islands, I 
shall be satisfied and more than paid for my effort. 

I am done, Mr. President. I have not well done. I 
have been advised by those whom I think most of as 
friends to await events. But the events that I saw com- 
ing in early August are here. I could wait no longer. 
Some have been kind enough to say that my seat was in 
danger. 

Why, Mr. President, I have seen the boys come home 
sick, and I have seen their graves; and I have seen so 
much of sacrifice in this cause that, as much as I love 
the association and the seat among you, I would give it 
as cheerfully as I would a crust, if my people want it, 

3633 



26 

regretting only that I have so little to give in this cause. 
I had hoped for some power of language that the old 
masters were said to have who stood within this forum 
in the past. I have almost prayed for some magnetic 
power that I could turn the tide for the liberty of those 
people, for some magnetic power that I could draw you 
so close that I could write in living letters upon your 
hearts the word ' ' Liberty. " Not liberty, Mr. President, 
for your family as I prescribe it, not liberty for me or 
my children by your dictation, not Austrian libertj^ for 
Hungary, not Spanish liberty for Cuba, not English lib- 
erty for the United States, and not American liberty for 
the Philippines, but universal libertj— universal liberty 
for which our fathers died. 

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